Session 41: Wrong Call

General Summary

In the aftermath of communicating with the undying mage, having killed (they had thought) and bound him and taken him to the Temple of Valkia, Astrelh and Iza returned to the Monster & the Butcher were Fjarldt, Balta, and Rowan waited. They tried to put together the pieces revealed from the conversation, trying to connect the greater picture.   With it still swimming in their heads, they got to preparing for their next task - find the sight of the Three Clawed Eye's ambush on the Rising Dawn's convoy. For the next seven days they trained, readied their equipment, and studied over Wilcock's tome and their map. During this time Ailtu and Ayrbrn set sail for Kaerndal, hoping that there they could decipher and understand the effects of the amulet from Blackrock, and left Balta to watch over the residence in Catun.   On the 11th the party set out, heading first to Balunross - should the convoy be coming from the river valley of the Trosen river to the north they would have to pass through the town, which is nestled in the slim passageway between the two spines of the Ilaraete Mountains. Along the way they noted no crossing over the Finre river other than the main bridge just east of Finmore, at least none of which heavy supply wagons could use. Once in Balunross they set about gathering any information on any Rising Dawn shipments coming through, and sure enough they found some. They learnt four things:  

1. The Rising Dawn convoys do pass through the town, heading both north and south.
2. When they are heading south towards Catun, the crates and boxes carried in the wagons are full and heavy.
3. The only fords of note on the Trosen river are downstream of Pinebridge, with the branches of the river upstream being small and slow enough to cross at a multitude of points.
4. The convoys usually consist of 15-20 soldiers, of which about half are mounted, and two heavy covered wagons, with racks on the sides which carry the soldiers' firearms.

  The party decided that the ambush must be happening to the south, when the convoy was closer to Catun and further from their origin, which could only be at the main bridge crossing the Finre. So they set off south and camped in a position where they could watch over the road and bridge, arriving just the night before the start of the week given in the tome. For the next five days Astrelh and Fjarldt kept careful watch over the bridge, keeping an eye out for any unusually traffic or behaviour, while Iza and Rowan scouted the area along both sides of the river for any signs of Three Clawed Eye. Both tasks came up empty.   Suddenly very unsure of their position, and with only four days of the week left, they decided to rush north along the road and try to get to Pinebridge - if the ambush was happening to the south then they would see the convoy on the road, and if not they might just get north fast enough. It took them three and a half days to get to Pinebridge, barely resting at all along the way, during which they ran into no travellers matching the description of the convoy. No-one they talked to in the town had seen any Rising Dawn men stop in the town, though the road passed wide of the town rather than through it so they could easily have just not stopped there. However, they did manage to learn that there were three fords between there and the next town that were shallow and wide enough for the heavy wagons of the convoy to cross at, each about half a day apart.   So they sped east, making it downstream to the first ford just an hour after the sun disappeared over the horizon. Nothing and no one there, the local villagers having seen no one matching the description. And so on the next morn they sped off again, making it to the second ford just before noon. There they found the two wagons, turned over and cracked open, and bodies of horses and men lying in the water. They were too late....  

Session Log - Astrelh

 

We finished our business in Catun. This included finding a large diamond for a new spell of mine and leaving our leftover stuff at Ailtu’s house, which Balta is now the caretaker of.   We then set off to the spot where we thought the ambush was sure to happen, but we had time to spare so we went to the town of Balunross to get some information beforehand.   After the visit, we decided that our plan was correct, and we camped near the bridge at the Catun end of the Muted Forest.   Sadly, after three days we realised that we had made the wrong call. So, we rushed up the road to the other possible ambush spot, and if we meet them on the way we could always turn back and follow them.   After a couple of days with hard travel we came upon the ambush spot, but we were too late…

— Astrelh Baston